Dinner with the Malfoys
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: Teddy and Andromeda get invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor. Needless to say Teddy isn't too fond of this turn of events.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Dinner with the Malfoys  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

"We're going _where_?" Teddy Lupin looked at his grandmother as though she had gone insane. In fact he was quite convinced that she _had _gone insane and should be shipped off to St Mungo's immediately. He wasn't going to tell her that though; Andromeda Tonks née Black was a very powerful witch, and not one that Teddy wanted to annoy even if she _was _his grandmother.

He had been in the middle of reading a letter from his godfather (who apparently had some very important news to tell him and wanted him to come over for dinner that evening) when his grandmother had burst into the room, announcing that Teddy was most certainly _not _going to visit the Potters because she had already made other plans for them.

"I just told you," Andromeda replied, sighing. "We're going to go and have dinner with my sister and her family. You know I've been in contact with Narcissa recently. We've both been thinking about what a shame it was that your mother and her cousin never met – and we wouldn't want the same thing to happen to you and Scorpius. Besides that the boy's just completed his first week at Hogwarts and he wants to tell his family about what he thinks of it – and family includes you."

Teddy repressed a sigh. He could tell that there was no use arguing about this. Instead he shifted his hair and eyes to a dull shade of beige to let his grandmother know _ever so subtly _how displeased he was with this arrangement. She couldn't tell him off for that, right?

Wrong.

"And make your colouring a little less dull, Theodore, for goodness sake," Andromeda snapped. "We wouldn't want my sister and her family to get the impression that their company bored you in any way, now would we?"

Teddy knew that 'suitable' meant dark hair and brown eyes or something of the sort, so he decided to do the opposite. He shifted his hair to a bright shade of turquoise and made his eyes yellow, then smiled at his grandmother.

"This more suitable, Granny?"

Andromeda shot him a scathing look (there was little else she hated more than being called 'granny') but did not say anything. Evidently her grandson had inherited the Black trait of audacious stubbornness.

* * *

So it was that Teddy Lupin found himself standing outside a large, rather run-down looking manor house set in picturesque English countryside – in other words in the middle of nowhere. The place was ostentatious, garish and all-round tasteless: in short it was everything Teddy would have expected from the Malfoys, especially considering that his godfather had always said that they had more money than sense, and it looks like that hadn't been an exaggeration on his part.

He followed his grandmother across the grounds (where, he noticed, there were lots of albino peacocks patrolling. Albino peacocks? The Malfoys obviously fancied themselves if they had bloody albino peacocks in their garden, Merlin's beard!)

After what felt like an eon, just as Teddy was deciding that no one should legally be allowed to have a garden as big as the Malfoys did, they finally reached the house itself. Andromeda knocked on the door, which swung open to reveal a woman who could only be his grandmother's sister – he only knew that because of her age, though, as Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks were as unalike as siblings could get. Where Andromeda's hair was coarse and dark, Narcissa's was fine and silvery; Andromeda's features were strong as though they had been carved in marble, whereas Narcissa's were softer, more child-like. If anything, Teddy mused, Narcissa Malfoy had a stronger resemblance to Victoire than she did her sister: now that was a rather disturbing thought.

"So you must be Theodore," Narcissa greeted him warmly, much to Teddy's horror (at being called by his much-disliked full name) and surprise (and the fact that Narcissa Malfoy was anything other than an icy, callous, pureblood matriarch.)

"Y… yes," Teddy replied. "And you're my grandmother's sister, Narcissa."

"Very astute, boy," a drawling voice came from behind Narcissa and an aging man with hollow-looking eyes and thinning white hair appeared behind him, leaning heavily on a cane topped with a silver snake's head. So this was Lucius Malfoy.

"A pleasure to meet you too, sir," Teddy said with false cheeriness as he caught the elder Malfoy staring, horrified at Teddy's unnaturally bright colouring.

"Come inside," Narcissa was saying. "Lucius, go and get Draco and Astoria and tell them to go and fetch Scorpius from wherever he's hiding. I'll show our guests to the dining room."

Teddy could tell that Lucius Malfoy was about as pleased at Teddy and Andromeda's presence as Teddy had been upon hearing where they were going for dinner that evening. Now, however, he was rather warming to his grandmother's sister; anyone who could put Lucius Malfoy in his place was worthy of respect as far as Teddy was concerned.

They followed Narcissa into the dining room, which was just as large (and, in Teddy's mind, repulsive) as the rest of the manor. They had just sat down at the dining table when Lucius re-entered, followed by a man of around Teddy's godfather's age whom he assumed must be Draco, a pretty, blonde, green-eyed woman who was obviously Draco's wife, and a nervous looking young boy who must have been their son.

"Andromeda, you've already met Draco and his wife, Astoria," Narcissa said. "This is their son, Scorpius. He was just sorted into Slytherin earlier this week and decided to come home for the weekend to have dinner with us. Draco, Astoria, this charming young man is Theodore Lupin." She noticed that Socrpius was staring at Teddy in shock. "What's wrong, Scorpius? Say hello to your cousin. He doesn't bite."

The food appeared on the table and they began to eat – all except Scorpius, who continued to state at his cousin in obvious horror, going so pale that he looked rather like a vampire.

"Y… you're a… you're a… a werewolf," Scorpius stuttered out eventually.

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's news to me, kid."

Scorpius frowned. "But how can you not be a werewolf? You have _yellow eyes_!"

"I do?" Teddy said in mock-surprise, quickly changing his eye colour to the same shade of grey as Scorpius' and making his hair go Slytherin green.

Scorpius looked absolutely terrified at this point and Teddy suppressed a laugh. Andromeda slapped his shoulder.

"Please forgive my grandson's antics," she said to Asotira Malfoy, who was trying to calm down the now-petrified Scorpius. "He's a metamorphmagus – and he tends to forget that his appearance-shifting seems rather odd to some people."

Scorpius now looked fascinated instead of scared. "You're a metamorphmagus?" he gasped. "That's _amazing_! But they're so rare… I never thought I'd meet one, let alone that one of my cousins _was_ one. Wow."

"My mother was one, too," Teddy explained, which caused Scorpius' eyes to widen even further. Teddy decided to change the topic; he really didn't want to have to explain, yet again, how his mother had been a metamorphmagus and his father had been a werewolf. He sensed that the Malfoys weren't the best people to be discussing that with.

"So, who's your best friend, Scorp?" Teddy asked his much younger cousin, who seemed to have warmed to him now that he knew that he _wasn't _a werewolf and he wasn't going to bite him.

"Sev," Scorpius replied. "Sev Potter. He's in Slytherin like me and is really nice, though I don't like his brother very much."

Teddy looked at him for a moment – and then it dawned on him. Harry's younger son's middle name was Severus. Albus Severus Potter. And he was… a Slytherin?! Suddenly he realised what the 'important news' Harry had wanted to tell him that morning was.

"So Albus is in Slytherin?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah. But we all call him Sev," Scorpius explained. "You know him."

"His dad's my godfather," Teddy replied.

"That's great! Maybe you'll be able to come round when I have Sev over for tea," Scorpius said. "If you know each other already. I don't really want James or Freddie coming over though; they don't seem to like me much."

Teddy smiled. "I'll tell them to be nice to you, kid. They listen to me. Not all of us Gryffindors are bad, you know."

Scorpius looked at him, surprised. Evidently he was as surprised at the idea of having a cousin who had been in Gryffindor as Teddy had just been upon hearing that Albus Potter had been sorted into Slytherin.

* * *

Later that evening, when they arrived back at Andromeda's house, Teddy looked at his grandmother, smiling.

"That wasn't so torturous, was it?" Andromeda said.

Teddy shrugged. "Scorpius seems like a nice kid. Though I really don't think Harry will be too pleased when his son gets invited to dinner with the Malfoys!"


End file.
